Well, the media is in a frenzy about the campaign, and we're still three months away from actually voting. A sample of the coverage: Slate examines how Bush's tax cuts might be working against him in the form of lots of DNC donations by rich Democrats, talks about why we should get rid of the electoral college system, and then follows up with how the difference between Bush and Kerry can be summed up to the difference between Costco and Wal-Mart. On a separate but related note, Business Week ran a article showing how Costco's methods of paying employees adequate salaries is actually making them more competitive. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, has had more than its share of screwing over the working class (pdf) in recent years. The Campaign Desk overviews all the coverage on John McCain's relationship to the President. The CSM looks at how the committee that puts together the presidential debates is under attack by those who would like it to be non-partisan. As always though, The Onion's story on the Kerry campaign resounds with clarity and insight. A fellow blogger has examined what could be a nightmare scenario for the legitimacy of the current electoral system: a tie in the electoral college vote. In the Illinois Senatorial race, Alan Keyes has a little bit of ground to make up on Barack Obama, who according to the most recent poll leads him 67% to 28%. The full breakdown can be found here (PDF). It's not the end of the world for Mr. Keyes though, since the margin of error is 4% -- those numbers actually could be closer than they look, like 63% to 32% or something.
With Afghanistan's elections approaching, the short campaign time and current omnipresence of Hamid Karzai makes him likely to be the first elected President, even though he technically has 17 opponents. Meanwhile, reports have surfaced showing that the nature of al-Qaeda is rapidly changing, with a new generation of leaders filling the gaps of those either captured or killed. The Register reviews the latest 'intelligence find,' questioning the sophistication of the intelligence agencies.
Even with the support of the House of Representatives in America, the European Union has announced that it will not identify the atrocities being committed in Darfur as genocide. The government of Sudan has rejected calls for the African Union to deploy 2000 troops to prevent further conflict in the Darfur region.
Fighting continues in Iraq, with American forces storming the house of cleric al-Sadr on Thursday though he was not residing there at the time. In a move that could potentially destabilize relationships with the Iraqi populace, American forces are reportedly planning on a final assault to deal with the cleric's insurgents in the holy city of Najaf, while at the same time dealing with another uprising in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City. In Najaf, the Guardian reports that Sadr's men are waiting for what they see as martyrdom by American forces. Back home, the Washington Post does a mea culpa on its failure to question the WMD motive to attack Iraq.
The Olympics are coming up at the end of the week with the torch just now reaching the Acropolis, and a few interesting not run-of-the-mill stories have been published about it. First is one about how economists have a model predicting the number of medals each country should win based on various economic and social factors. The United States is expected to come out on top again, but many countries in the world are bridging the gap. Meanwhile Athens is busy in a last-minute attempt to 'clean-up' the city, which apparently means removing thousands of beggars and homeless people from streets.
In space, one of Hubble's instruments is out of order, illustrating the problems with the telescope's aging equipment. NASA has a piece of equipment on the ground that could make the necessary repairs, though it has yet to make any formal plans. Despite all of this, the Hubble still takes groundbreaking pictures.
Also:
- Because of the increasing prevalance of communication methods that don't leak radio waves into space, the chances for other extraterrestrial civilizations to find ours are diminishing.
- Cassini has detected 'superbolts' of lighting in Saturn's atmosphere.
- The Gravity Probe B testing a component of Einstein’s general relativity is about to begin its experiment.
- The first solar sailor is ready for it's inaugural flight.
- Computer models suggest that the spin of black holes cause observed violent jets of matter and energy to shoot out.
- Here is a program that lets you observe the effects of special relativity on the appearance of moving objects.
- Scientists have developed a new type of glass that will block infrared radiation once the room temperature reaches a certain point.
- A new microscope has been developed that allows biologists to look into living organisms deeper than they were previously able to.
- Researchers have discovered cancer 'stem cells' that continuously replenish leukemia tumours. It is believed that finding and killing these cells would greatly aid patients suffering from this condition.
- If that doesn't work though, there is an ancient native American treatment for cancer that appears to have a positive effect on patients.
- A recent study has shown that your name can make you slightly more (or less) sexy.
- Scientists have found a way to make slacker monkeys more productive.
- Doom 3 is out to critical acclaim as an example of where computer graphics technology is going, and already has people writing mods for it.
- The Blu-ray Disc Association has unveiled its new blue ray CD format, HD-DVD.
- An article on what it's like to live in Antarctica.
- Chess legend Bobby Fischer is looking to renounce his US citizenship. Slate takes us through the process on how to go about doing that.
- Muslims in Canada are looking to form a formal committee that would judge disputes between Muslims according to Sharia, or Islamic Law, leading to protests that it will infringe on the rights of women.
- Saudi Arabia's laws concerning upcoming municipal elections make it unclear as to whether women will be allowed to vote.
- Iran's upgrading of its missile systems is an indication of why missile-defence doesn't work.
- The Village Voice writes about the legal team set up to help protesters at the RNC convention.
- A judge holds a Time magazine journalist in contempt of court for not naming a unnamed source, sending shockwaves through the journalistic community.
- An article explaining what a 'buy' rating from a stock analyst actually means.
- The Acadian diaspora is meeting in Nova Scotia to celebrate their heritage.
- Oil prices continue to go through the roof, despite Saudi Arabia's commitment to produce more. Analysts see demand outpacing forecasts, which will only exacerbate the current problems.
- California has annulled all gay marriages that took place in San Francisco.
- The governor of New Jersey has resigned after declaring that he is gay and has had an extramarital affair with another man.
- The top 10 most literate American cities.
- When it comes to the cities with the best quality of life in the world though, Canada claims 4 out of the top 10 spots when cost-of-living is factored in.
- What exactly does Osama bin Laden actually want? Some journalists have bothered to find out.
- A list of the BBC's 'Interviews from Hell.'
- iPod vs cassette tape, a study.
- The Chipmunk Song, slowed down to a regular pace. (mp3)
- A landslide caught on tape.
- Hand-painted maps of the world, drawn from memory.
- A website dedicated to finding the most popular color combinations.
- A graph showing Bush's approval ratings to terror alerts.
- Stairway to Heaven, as done by different composers.
- A website that searches for rhymes to inputted words.
- Build a better Bush!
- Michael Moore scores another coup over George Bush, as his latest pick for the head of the CIA went on film for Mr. Moore explaining that he would not be qualified for the job.
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